Lexington

Christian got to spend the night aboard the USS Lexington, nicknamed "Blue Ghost". Speaking of which, it happens to be the most haunted ship in the US Navy. The Discovery Channel's show "Ghost Lab" will be featuring it on December 22nd. They have already featured our Granbury Opera House. You won't want to miss it!

Hobbies

And this is my new pride and joy...I found this at a garage sale around the corner from me. I paid $20, my mom paid $20. The thing is, it's a circa 1940's Drexel New Hampton Court china cabinet. It's worth about $800. I saw the Drexel stamp and HAD TO HAVE IT. And I don't even collect antiques, but I'm starting to get very interested. Anyway, nobody knew what they had and I did....

October

And Christian earned his 1st Class Scout rank, the boys began Cotillion, and then we had Halloween...

Above: Colten, Sebastian,

Marc, Christian and Nic.

Top right: Caleb, Christian, Tevin,

Ethan, and Henry.

Right: Halloween dinner consisted

of Mummy Dogs, Brains with

Blood Sauce and Eyeballs, Olive

Roaches, Witches Brew with Iced

Worms. Sounds delicious, huh?

And so school began...

And then there is cheerleading which started around the first of school. Angela is a big Kindergartener now, and Christian and Caleb are in middle school.

more...

They even let him in the cockpit of the airplane!!! Scary, huh? LOL

Caleb's Summer

Caleb made all A's last school year and his reward was a trip to LegoLand in California with his grandmother. They made a stop at Las Vegas and Neverland. I'm only going to post the best pix here because I have about 400 of them...LOL

Always with the disappearing acts...

I used to have friends in South Texas who would complain that I would always disappear without their knowledge. Just one day, they would come to school, and I wouldn't be there for months. I didn't keep up with them and never warned them. That's kind of how I feel right now! Sorry to disappear, I have much to catch up on...I will start with the pictures I promised from summer. These were taken from my wonderful friend Sheryl. That's Caleb, Christian and Tevin tubing on Lake Granbury, and Angela steering Todd's boat! Talk about spoiled...

Garden pix

Above, my Black Beauty Zucchini flower...

A bug enjoys a lily...

A garlic flower goes to seed (yes Sheryl, I will share!)...

And my blackberries are becoming cobbler faster than it knows!

Hailey

Finally, after about a year, I get to see my niece Hailey! She is raised by her great-grandmother in Azle because her parents and grandmother cannot take care of her. This has been a drama-filled issue in our family that I won't get into. She is a cutie pie though, and will be 2 in June.

Family Art

At the beginning of this year, Caleb wanted to start an art project for his teacher, Mrs. Moore. He designed many shapes for his abstract art and then asked us to add one thing of our own. Christian drew a little puppy, I drew a never ending chrysanthemum, Angela drew her hand, and Robert drew bricks. He put it all together and colored it for a very creative piece! Needless to say, she loved it, and entered it to be put on display at the Shanley House for the Lake Granbury Art Association's Youth Exhibition of Art. She plans to double-mat and frame it for her home.

I'm back!

Okay folks, I realize it's been a while. This post should catch you up to speed. Most of the past month I have been working on my gardens, specifically my vegetable garden. Trying to catch good days between rain and cold was difficult at best, but it's done! And soon I won't have to browse the produce section of insecticide filled harvests. Of course, I apply mine to the soil, so there may not be much difference.
I also have begun preparation for summer outings, such as my infamous July 4th party. I have my deck set up for marshmallow roasting, which I was able to try out twice with a few of my favorite people...

Creationism or Evolutionism???

By this, I would be talking about food. Is it a creation, or did it evolve from something else? I was making homemade biscuits this morning for my precious mini-me, and realized that the gravy I was going to use had spoiled. So, with some ideas, I made different toppings for the biscuits. We had them buttered, topped with grape jelly, and dusted with cinnamon and sugar. Not at the same time, of course. My ex-in-laws used various foods together to make "odd" combinations, such as lettuce with whipped cream on top (yeah, I know!). If you have an odd but tasty topping for biscuits, please submit them, we have plenty left to experiment with!!!

Weather!

Weather is a great photo op. This one I took today before the storm started, and I submitted it to Weather Warriors (weather.com) and it is currently displayed at Hood County News (hcnews.com).

Happy Birthday General Granbury

I know, it's been awhile. This weekend we visited the rides at the annual General Granbury's Birthday Celebration. We didn't spend much time, but knew the kids would be disappointed if they didn't go at all.

I am told that the slide was "EXTREME, DUDE!"

(I hope so, at 4 tickets per child)

Grand Spring Ball

Christian recently went to a ball held at Pecan Plantation. It was for his Cotillion class which, has helped him learn proper etiquette and taught him to dance!!! My favorite part is getting to dance with him--we've done the waltz, the foxtrot, boxstep and Cupid's Shuffle! Someday he will thank me...right?

Angela

This would be my daughter, 5 going on 16.

Paraskevidekatriaphobia

Can anyone say this as fast as my son can? This term means "the fear of Friday the 13th". Can you believe this has a name? Apparently almost 17 MILLION people suffer from it, and businesses lose hundreds of thousands of dollars from it. My mother was born on Friday the 13th, and hence she has NO problem with it. Well, all you superstitious people out there, there is one more of these this year--in November. Smile!

Yeay!

I just found out that Dog will be going to a good home. That makes me so happy and relieved!! It's raining today, and it's cold. I thought the cold was gone, but SURPRISE! LOL Tevin asked me yesterday for chili for dinner tonight. I had told him that chili is a "winter" food, that it was too hot for chili. Then Robert came home, and I relayed his request. Robert, too, said it was too hot for chili. Then this morning, I wake up to the thermometer reading 44!!! I guess we're having chili tonight!

Dog

I am a sucker for animals, specifically dogs. I can't stand those ASPCA commercials that show animals in cages or that have been abused or starving with those sad songs in the background. I have to change the channel before I cry.

My father in law passed away in November, leaving his dog, Dog, behind. He's really old and a great companion for a single person. He's not real patient with kids or other dogs. My brother in law took him in, but now he's moved and can't keep him. We have been trying to find him a home. Where he is at now, the people are going to call Animal Control today to come pick him up. It is a sad day. He won't last long there, and will probably suffer the same fate as his previous owner. Life just seems so unfair and cruel it just makes me sick. We already have a wonderful dog, Sasha, who would probably get eaten by Dog because she is utterly annoying and craves constant attention! Not that I can handle another animal on top of 3-4 kids and a husband...

Clueless

Okay so I'm new to this whole blogging thing. I have been inspired by a special friend in my life who is SO CREATIVE...her blog kicks butt! But I will try this and see how it goes, see how many people I can entertain. :)